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School for the Future

Part 2 Project 2012Miha ProsenEva SenekovicPeter PlantanMasa PircAna PezdircPrimoz PavsicJanja OrelMasa OgrinKatja LoncarLucija LautarJernej Kovac MyntJure KolencJost HrenAles GabrijelcicGasper FabijanTadej BoltaUros BabnikUniversity of Ljubljana Ljubljana SloveniaIn 2000 member states of United Nations signed a Millenium Declaration in order to improve the lives of billions of people living in miserable conditions around the world. Declaration defined 8 goals to be achieved by 2015: eradication of poverty and hunger, universal primary education, gender equality, improvement of health, reduction of infectious diseases, environmental sustainability and global partnership. The 2010 report on achieving the goals showed improvement, but they shall hardly be achieved by 2015. So we asked ourselves: what can we do as future architects to help achieving them?

In 2009 our Faculty joined an international network of architectural schools for building educational premises in underdeveloped regions in South Africa. Our team built a multipurpose hall in Ithuba Community College in a shantytown near Johannesburg. The hall is a modest contribution to help the children who grow up in miserable conditions without realistic chances for a decent life, in a country with one of the highest levels of unemployment and crime, growing alcoholism, and a high percentage of patients with HIV/AIDS. This seems to be quite incomprehensible considering the newborn democracy, the wealth of natural resources and solid economy. South Africa, the richest country on the African continent, is a country of greatest social inequalities.

The project for the hall developed in three phases: research and design of the building at our Faculty, fundraising and construction on the site in Johannesburg. Together with local workers we built a 330m2 big hall in eight weeks. The key points of the project were: knowledge exchange between us and local workers, positive effect on the local economy and the quality of habitation in the township, where people live in shacks or tiny houses. Therefore the design of the building is simple and the materials used are local and inexpensive. We used straw and clay for walls, steel for structure, plastic for facade, metal for roof. The shape and orientation of the building and the facade concept was conceived with energy efficiency in mind. The building shows that even inexpensive materials and low-tech solutions can be used to build quality living spaces.